by Jade Frances
“Just peachy, Evangeline. What about you and your motley crew?” Her eyes were dull, and her tone flat.
“Fine, would you like to join us?”
A sneer appeared on her face, and after a moment she started laughing. Well, it was more of a harsh cackle.
“With people who hate me. I’ll pass.” I gaped at her back as she sauntered off. Looking back at the others, I could see confusion set on their faces.
“Man, that girl just gets stranger. She’s always slinking around in the shadows. Why hasn’t she made any friends?” Sandra retorted.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I replied. Glancing at the door again, I half expected her to be standing there glaring at me. I’d talk to Pearce later, see if he knows what I could do to help her. She liked him. Probably more than me right now.
The girls started saying their goodnights to the group, even though we were all heading in the same direction. You could tell that today’s conversations had taken a toll on everyone. Weariness filled the air between us. I, for one, could not wait to get in bed and rest.
Pearce had dropped me at my bedroom door, saying goodnight as he left and wished me a good sleep.
Little did he know, I wished for a good sleep every night, and it was rarely ever granted.
My mind went blank, and with it came the darkness that I was accustomed to. This time there was no cavern, no flashes of lightning and no chaos around me. It was just me and Cole. At least I thought it was him. His image was flickering, barely noticeable. The surrounding darkness wasn’t ominous, it felt more like my own. When he appeared he was gazing at me, brows furrowed, and mouth open wide.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, shocking myself when my words rang out around us.
I’m too weak... traitor... his voice whispered through my mind. Shaking his head, he opened his mouth to speak again, but nothing came out. Our roles had reversed.
“I can barely hear you, why do you keep coming to me? Do you want to help?”
I’m Aresollo’s... frustration coursed through him as his words rang silent. I raised my hands up.
“I don’t understand,” I yelled.
More darkness trickled into the void. This time it wasn’t mine. All of a sudden, a sense of urgency filled the air. Cole’s eyes went wide, and his hands trembled. His eyes were darting around the darkness as if waiting for something to appear. He cocked his head, listening. I did the same, but saw and heard nothing. His eyes whipped toward me. Sweat dripped from his head. He was biting his lip, and it took me a moment to realise that he was concentrating. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as he tried to get the words out.
“They’re coming. Now. Wake up!”
I shot up out of bed, sweating and disorientated. I ran over to the window to look out. A thick fog blocked my view. Running back to the bed, I threw on joggers and a hoody and ran out of my room. I banged on every door as I passed.
“Get up, now, get up,” I yelled. One by one, each door opened until everyone was crowded in the small hallway.
“What the hell, Evvy, it’s the middle of the night,” Sandra yawned and stretched.
“They’re coming. They’re coming now! Get dressed, we need to wake everyone else.” I was panting and trying to relay the urgency. But no one seemed to take me on.
A high-pitched, chilling howl penetrated the walls. An icy shiver ran through me. That was no ordinary howl, I had been around wolf shifters enough to know the difference. I walked cautiously to the hall window, but again the fog obscured my view. They hadn’t reached the grounds, not yet. The sound of the howl had set everyone moving, and I watched as they disappeared into their rooms, reappearing minutes later. Fully dressed and alert, they looked to me for an explanation.
“Cole reached out, but we don’t have time. They’re here. That howl sounded distant. But they will gain ground and we have to warn the others in the academy.” I took off at a run for the stairs, hoping the others would follow. Swinging the main door open, I gasped as I saw just how thick the fog was. Reaching out tentatively, I watched my hand disappear before me.
“Oh my god, we can’t fight in that. You can’t see an inch ahead,” Rose whimpered.
Another howl ripped through the air, closer this time.
“Take my hand and tell the others behind you to do the same. We have to warn everyone,” I felt Rose’s hand connect with mine and without a second thought I pulled her straight into the fog with me. It clung to every inch of my body, suffocating me. I held out my free arm ahead so that I wouldn’t run into anything. What would have usually taken a couple of minutes, took us ten. I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt the entrance doors. Pushing it open, I yanked Rose’s arm, pulling her inside with me. Once we were safely inside, I turned to make sure we had lost no one along the way. My head count told me everyone had made it. Pearce pushed his way through the others to stand beside me.
“We need to split up and wake anyone in the building. Children need to go below ground. They will need to be defended. Whoever wants to stay allow them.” He barked to everyone. “Evvy, with me. Sandra, Egan, left wing. Rose, Barak, right wing. Taylor, Adam and Darryl, you guys go to Theodore. The medical wing will need to be moved below ground with the children. Let’s go!”
I was taking double steps just to keep up with Pearce, who was a man on a mission. They had trained him for this his entire life. When I noticed we weren’t heading toward any dorms, I paused.
“Pearce, where are we going?”
“To Avetta.” He stated blankly. His tone told me that he wouldn’t elaborate further, so I jogged to catch up with him again.
When we reached her office door, it was open. The room was in complete disarray. The contents of her shelves were spilled out across the floor. Her desk had been overturned. Darkness clung to the shadows that the lanterns cast.
“Pearce,” I whispered.
“Let’s get back to the others,” he replied, giving away no emotion. I backed out of the room, glancing around one more time. Something’s missing. Pearce yanked on my arm and half dragged me down the hallway. My feet couldn’t keep up with his giant steps.
I came skidding to a halt behind Pearce when we reached the entrance hall again. Barak and Rose were already guiding students and teachers alike to the door that led to the underground bunkers that I had only just learned of. I could see Sandra and Egan appearing ahead of their own crowd from the left. Students were yawning and shuffling along, still in their pyjamas. Teachers were on high alert and babbling between themselves.
“Teachers, decide amongst yourselves who will defend the children. If you don’t I will make that choice for you,” Pearce growled at them. I reached out to run my hand up his arm.
“They will be safe, but we don’t need to cause tension in our own ranks, soldier.” I tried to calm him, even though my pulse was quickening with every minute that passed. No more howls had reached us, yet. With any luck, we had time to secure the children and surround the main building ready to defend. Kady broke free from Adam’s grip as they descended the stairs. I caught her just as she jumped up into my arms.
“I can help Evangeline, I want to fight,” she shrieked into my ear. I set her on the floor and held her steady by her shoulders.
“This isn’t a battle for you to fight Kady,” I told her sternly.
“But I want to be like you. I can be brave,” she replied, holding her fists up and punching the air.
“And I have a special job for you,” I turned her, so she was looking at everyone heading underground. “See all of those children, some of them aren’t as brave as you. They need to be protected, and only the most courageous can do that. I want you to be one of the people defending them, what do you think?”
Her eyes lit up, and she lifted her chin.
“I am pretty courageable, I’ll do it.” I fought back a laugh at her misspoken word. Now wasn’t the time to be laughing. Turning her back to face me, I squeezed her tight.
“Go on now,
they need you.” She made it three steps away from me before she came running back. Wrapping her arms around me, she let out a sob.
“I love you Evangeline, make sure you come back,” she mumbled and swiftly ran off again. I stared after her, silently hoping that she would, eventually, be able to enjoy some form of a normal childhood. Lightning cracked through the night sky, making some of the younger children scream. They started pushing to get through the doors. If the guys didn’t keep them under control we would have a stampede on our hands, and that, we didn’t have time for.
“Let’s go find Theodore,” Pearce suggested.
“One second,” I replied. I had spotted Demetrios amidst the crowd of students. Pushing my way toward him, I grabbed his arm. He looked at me in alarm, then a sheepish smile appeared.
“I am no fighter Evangeline, I am sorry,” he said.
“I don’t care about that, you all have a choice. Do you have any idea where Avetta is?” I asked hastily.
“No, I’m sorry, I have to get underground.” He pulled his arm away and continued on his way with the others.
As I looked around, I noticed only a handful of adults were hanging back. One of those people was Theodore. Which meant out of thirty odd teachers, only four were preparing to defend the academy. I made my way across to Theodore and reached him at the same time Pearce had.
“Do we know what is coming?” Theodore asked us. I shook my head and Pearce shrugged.
“It’s howling, whatever it is,” Sandra added as she joined us. As if on cue, a deafening howl sent the rest of the latecomers into panic. Theodore went as white as the winter snow and mumbled something under his breath. One of the teacher’s moved away from our group and began descending the stairs to the bunker whilst muttering to himself.
A commotion at the stairs drew our attention away. Darryl and Taylor were arguing with a gang of older students.
“You need to get downstairs,” Darryl growled in the tallest one’s face.
“We are just as capable as you. Who made you boss?” He bit back. Taylor stepped in between them and tried to diffuse the situation.
“It is for your own safety, you do not want to face what is out there. Trust me,” he was saying. “I was a student here once too, I thought that I could take on the world, just like you. Then I was thrown into it, and no one at your age, or mine, should ever see the horrors that I’ve witnessed.”
I watched as the gang reluctantly backed down, taking Taylor’s words seriously. I’d never asked about Taylor’s history, and I could only imagine what he saw when they sent him to infiltrate The Veil. We were lucky that he didn’t lose himself along the way and still, to this day, was the Taylor we had all grown to love.
Once the last of the students were below ground, Pearce closed the door and sealed it with his energy. One by one, we logged our own energy signatures into the system, so that at least if only a few of us survived, we could open it and get them back out.
We ran around switching off all the lights and locking doors. As we made our way out to the front of the building, I noticed that my hands were shaking. Pearce squeezed my shoulders and bent down to kiss my forehead.
“It’s going to be ok. We can do this,” he said. The fog was drifting back toward the tree line. At least we could see what was coming for us. I remembered my first glimpse of Theodore’s clan walking out of the forest, and the sight of Kady covered in blood as she ran hysterically toward me. They had lost so many.
“What if we can’t?” I whispered. Pearce cupped my face with his hands and pulled me toward him. Before I knew what was happening his lips were on mine. A strong electrical current zapped its way through my body and fire raged in the pit of my stomach. My heart was pounding in my chest and my knees were going weak as his lips mashed against mine. Time stopped as the fluttering inside me intensified.
What sounded like a hundred howls tore through the trees, joined with shrill wails and screeches. Pearce tore his lips from mine and looked wildly around at the others. His face had gone a grey colour, and he looked panic stricken.
“Skin walkers,” he yelled, and the words alone made all my senses come crashing back to me.
I brushed the beads of sweat from my upper lip with my sleeve, then dabbed frantically at my forehead. The howls were getting closer by the second and it sounded like there were a lot of them.
What are skin walkers? I sent to the girls. Pearce hadn’t given me a chance to ask before he ushered us all into a line surrounding the academy. Because there were so few of us, we were spread far apart. I could just about see Pearce to the right of me at the corner of the building.
A whole new level of shapeshifter. Vile creatures. Rose replied, sounding a lot calmer than I thought she would be.
Hideous too. If you thought your scrapes with the venom were bad, try getting bitten by one of these. Sandra piped in. Another howl pierced through the night. This one came right from the tree line.
I love you girls, we can do this. I sent and switched off the bond before they could reply. We needed to focus.
I heard the padding of paws in the wet grass before I saw them emerge from the trees. Red glowing eyes shone in the darkness. As the first stepped out, I took in its grey form. It was hairless and so skinny you could see its rib cage contracting. It reared up on its hinds legs, making it look half human, half- maybe wolf. More glowing eyes appeared behind it. I wiped my hands on my joggers and took up a wide stance. It ran toward us, swiftly followed by its companions. It was still on its hind legs, like some possessed creature of the night. Lightning bolted through the sky from the other side of the academy. Barak, their fight had started. With no hesitation, I called to my fire and threw it at the skin walker closest to me. There had to be at least ten heading straight for me. Adrenaline kicked in as I threw flame after flame. But they just kept coming. One soared through the air. I threw myself to the ground and rolled away. Barely escaping its claws. Drool dripped from its mouth as it snapped its head toward me. It was too close, far too close. I threw fire to my left and right whilst backing away from the one directly in front of me. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of it, but I also had to keep the others in my sight. When it charged me, I engulfed myself in fire. Howling, it hung back a foot away. I couldn’t hold it for long, it would drain me too fast. I concentrated and held it steady around me whilst gathering as much as I could in my palms. Pulling them toward me, I threw them back out toward it. The flames hit it and encased the skin walker. The shrill pierce of its cries tore through me. For a split second, guilt hit me. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it before another began stalking me. Looking for a way to get to me without getting burned. Again, I backed up. Fatigue was already starting to lace my mind. The mental strength to keep the surrounding fire was too much. I had to let it go. With a quick glance around, I noticed that there were only two heading for me now. The one closest and another hanging back behind it. Where are the others?
I heard Adam’s howl to the right of me. No. Dropping my fire, I threw flames at the skin walker opposite and watched that one go up in flames as well. The other one hadn’t advanced toward me yet, which would give me a head start to get to Adam. Run, I told myself. And set off in the direction that Adam was in. Never turn your back on your opponent. That was the first lesson that Pearce had ever taught me. But I had no choice. I ran like I had never run before. I could hear the skin walker closing ground behind me, but I didn’t look back. As I rounded the corner I saw three attacking Adam’s wolf. He was holding his own, but there was no denying that he needed help. I threw a ball of flames at the one furthest from him in case I missed. It went up in flames. I sensed the one behind me. It was too close. The second its paws left the floor, I dropped to the ground. Twisting onto my back, I unleashed fire as it soared above me. It writhed and dropped mere feet away from me. It was howling as my flames spread over its entire body. Peeling my eyes away, I looked toward Adam. He had taken one down and was circling the other. With a quick leap,
his jaws wrapped around its neck and the snap that followed rang through the darkness. As he turned, I met his green eyes. His wolf gave me a swift nod, then bound off toward the forest. Which left me alone. I decided to circle back around to where I should be stationed, I launched myself into a run, hurdling over the charred body of a skin walker.
I was so hell bent on getting back to my position, that I didn’t notice the skin walker stalking me from the shadows. It sprung out, knocking me to the ground. My breath caught in my throat. I rolled to distance myself, but I wasn’t fast enough. It placed one giant paw on the centre of my chest and held me there. Looking down at me, it cocked its head. The red of its eyes faded slightly and was replaced by a deep blue. There’s a human in there somewhere. I laid there on the floor staring at it. Why wasn’t it attacking? Its head snapped up, focusing on something behind me. The distraction gave me just enough time to push its paw off. I drew my legs up to my chest and kicked out as hard as I could. It whimpered and stumbled backward. Shuffling back, I put enough distance between us before I stood up. Calling to my fire, I held it in my hands, waiting for it to make the first move. Lightning flashed through the sky again, illuminating its blue eyes. It was only then that I noticed this one wasn’t grey or hairless. It was an ash brown and quite filled out. It took one last look at me before darting off into the forest, howling as it went. My breathing was laboured as I lowered my hands and let the flames sizzle out. What the hell was that about?
Standing here gawping after it was going to get me killed. I took off at a run again, but something caught my eye in the trees. A small figure darting in and out. I slowed my pace and squinted my eyes. I saw hair flowing in the breeze as they ran through the trees. Who was out there? Looking around me, I saw that there was no immediate threat to me or the academy on this side. On a whim, I decided to go and check it out. Changing direction, I jogged over to the tree line and hid behind a massive oak. Slowing my breathing to calm myself, I peeked around. I couldn’t see anyone. But I was sure someone was in here. Concealed by the trees and thankful I had chosen dark clothing, I crept in between them. My ears picked up on a rustle to my right. It was much darker in here without the moonlight or Barak’s lightning. I followed the sound, staying far enough back to remain hidden. I was close enough now, though, that I could hear footsteps. It sounded like one person. Who would be out here in the dark with skin walkers roaming?
